Tales of triumph and disaster in the kitchen – fuel for running adventures

Winter Warmer Tea at the Met Bar

Last week, in a night shift induced haze, I was lucky enough to experience a little glimpse of Christmas and a large amount of delicious food, with a preview of the new Winter Warmer Tea at the Met Bar thanks to Lime and Tonic. The tea runs from now until the 30th December.

The food

The team at the Met Bar seem to have taken great care to ensure favourite festive flavours are included, whilst making the effort to present something a bit different and a bit classier.

Winter Warmer Tea at the Met Bar

Savoury The smoked salmon parcel was filled with dill cream cheese and haddock which had a texture akin to dressed crab. This, combined with a seeded spelt bread, micro herbs and a little caviar resulted in a range of textures and flavours which complemented each other perfectly and were a welcome change to the subtle-as-a-brick whack of salmon mousse that normally fills salmon offerings at Christmas. Again with the Lancashire cheddar quiche, the textures had been considered – a crumbly pastry and creamy smooth filling was heightened by tiny chunks of mature cheese. I was glad that the savouries got such attention, as they can often be the poor relations of afternoon tea, but not so in this case.

Smoked Salmon Parcels, Lancashire Cheddar Quiche, Eggnog

Sweet Chocolate and hazelnut opera cake was incredibly light with a fluffy mousse and a shiny chocolate glaze. Faultless. The brandy buttercream on the gingerbread cupcake (not strong – could have coped with more but appreciated the subtlety) was lighter that any I have had before, and I will be hunting down whoever made it and demanding that they share the recipe with me. There was lashing of the stuff and yet it didn’t leave you feeling overwhelmed. The cake itself had, as Hollywood would say, and excellent crumb and was very very moist. Raisin scones were well made and the only downer was, bizarrely, the mince pie which felt like it had shop-bought pastry – odd.

Chocolate and hazelnut opera cake

Team that lot with a great range of teas and, more importantly an AMAZING eggnog and I can safely say that this afternoon tea is a winner. £29 or £35 with champagne (but to be honest, just give me more eggnog…and then some more…) More photos here

The place

If like me, you aspire to dainty afternoon teas but in reality prefer more in a relaxed atmosphere where you can focus on the people you’re with and the lovely food on offer, the then Met Bar on Park Lane is perfect. They make an effort and are very attentive, so it’s still a special treat to have afternoon tea there but you don’t need to worry about whether you’ve got the right twin-set on or if you laugh a little too loud. It’d be equally fine to go with the inlaws or for an afternoon of escapism with your best friends. Guys and girls would feel equally happy here too as there’s no chintz to be seen. The Met Bar is part of the Como group of hotels which specialises in unpretentious luxury. They also run the Halkin, which has some exciting sounding food-based developments on the way – I’m hoping to hear more about that one soon….

The Met Bar – lovely and not scary

The Lime & Tonic Factor

Lime & Tonic help you find and get access to interesting and new experiences. For example, if you want to organise an evening out with a bunch of friends you could find a secret supper club on Lime & Tonic, set a date, invite all your friends to buy a pass to it and then when enough people have signed up the event goes live. If your friends are flaky and don’t join in then the event doesn’t happen and you’re not our of pocket. Or, if you want to get more sociable then you can take the event public and allow other people to join it. You then review the experience online and can earn rewards for repeat visits. Most Lime & Tonic experiences are food based such as Japanese Afternoon Tea, Macarons and Martinis and Ferdiesfoodlab or but there’s also various other things such as London tours. The company started in Prague and are now live in Slovenia, London, Dubai, Rio and Sydney with more to follow soon.

Thanks very much to the Met Bar, Lime & Tonic and Katherine of LadyLovesCake for thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. I was not required to write a review and all views are definitely my own.